


Ten percent tweed

by TerresDeBrume



Series: Flash Fic Night Prompts [52]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 10:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17599895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerresDeBrume/pseuds/TerresDeBrume
Summary: Sometimes Erik despairs at the things that make him tick.





	Ten percent tweed

Erik doesn’t notice the customer in a gray tweed vest until an impatient hand shoots out at him from behind the ridiculously tall counter top. He has to bend over the fake marble at a borderline dangerous angle before he can properly meet a pair of bright blue eyes framed with freckles and a haircut so full of product it could probably pop right off the owner’s head and onto a mannequin. The overall effect is pretty odd, almost goofy, what with the elbow patches and wool mittens, but then the man gives a rueful grin and Erik is abruptly reminded that he is, indeed, terribly gay.

 

“So,” the living stereotype of a university professor in the sixties says, “your accessibility level could use some improvement.”

“I’ll let the boss know,” Erik says.

 

Shaw will probably just laugh and ignore it entirely, but at least Erik will keep a clean conscience about that, and then he can get right back to building his own business and walking right out of Kettle-Fire Club. Until then, he does have a job to do, and idle thoughts of making out with a man who seems to be at least ten percent tweed to indulge in.

 

“How may I help you?”

 

It comes out a little too honest, lacking the fake cheer usually expected of retail employees, but that doesn’t seem to be enough to deter the client, who somehow seems to have flown straight past well-deserved anger and into unsubtle flirting. Which is probably why Erik finds himself kind of dumbfounded when the man only says:

 

“I’d like a tall black coffee, please.”

 

He is unfailingly polite to the end, despite Erik’s less-than-stellar service—something he can live with, considering how much of his soul he’s already sold to this stupid barista job—and his apparent callousness to the accessibility problems in this shop, namely that Shaw would probably add a step on purpose if he thought he could get away with it. That bit, Erik is a lot more inclined to repent for, mostly because it’s not wheelchair users’ fault his boss is a complete dickhead, and he should know better.

 

Thankfully, Erik is still feeling professional enough to keep that inner monologue inside his head where it belongs, and he’s in the middle of handing back the change when the customer slaps a small cardboard rectangle on the counter, arm stretched all the way to reach the spot.

 

“I know there’s a certain amount of fake cheer involved in your job,” the man says, “but I do hope I’m not misinterpreting that blush. Have a nice day!”

 

Charles F. Xavier, Erik discovers while trying to glare his own blood vessels into submission, is indeed a university professor; and the fact that he went through the trouble of scrawling a personal (underlined twice) number on a professional card is the only redeeming quality about his handwriting.

 

In the end, Erik’s annoyance at his own incomprehensible taste loses the battle against his stupid grin.

**Author's Note:**

> I now have a [permanent prompting post](https://terresdebrume.dreamwidth.org/189221.html) over on DreamWidth!
> 
> Comments and reviews make me want to keep writing :)


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